World-renowned guitarist Lily Afshar to perform

February 28, 2015

One of the world's leading classical guitarists will present an exciting and intimate
program of music by Bach, Barrios and Rodrigo and arrangements of enchanting Persian
ballads during an upcoming performance at Harper College.

The award-winning Lily Afshar, the first woman in the world to be awarded a Doctor
of Music in guitar performance, will put on a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March
5, at the Black Box Theater, Building L, Room L109 on the College's main campus, 1200
W. Algonquin Road in Palatine.

Earlier in the day, Afshar will lead a select group of students in a master class.

"Her work is truly groundbreaking and genre-defying," said Steve Vazquez, Director
of Guitar Ensembles at Harper.

Born in Iran, Afshar's Persian heritage has given rise to some of her greatest musical
innovations. She has drawn from Persian and Azerbaijani folk music traditions to create
arrangements of work for the classical guitar. She also has fascinated concert-goers
with live performances of the sehtar, a traditional Persian instrument.

A true citizen of the world, Afshar has performed at venues across the globe. She
has won a top prize in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, Grand Prize in
the Aspen Music Festival Competition, the Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female
Classical Guitarist and a National Endowment for the Arts Recording Award, among others.